Niantic Jingle Bell 5K

Niantic (Old Lyme), CT

Saturday, December 11, 2021

This was the first of twelve events in our WTAC Clamshell series for 2022, as the "Clamshell year" runs from December to November in order to tabulate results and get a prize in time for our annual holiday party in December.  I had never run this race before, and it weren't for it being featured as a WTAC Clamshell event, I probably would not have signed up.

My "B" goal here today was to go sub-18:13, which is the fastest 5K road race I have run in the past five years.  However, with a relatively flat course and my recent road race successes, I was thinking a sub-18 might even be possible as an "A" goal.  The wild card was the weather, as impending rain and heavy winds were forecast.

I was truly astounded to see 800+ registrants for a local 5K race, so I made sure 1) to take advantage of the packet pickup the day before, and 2) to arrive extra early to park almost adjacent to the race start/finish, instead of being relegated to one of the overflow parking lots 7/10 mile away.  Not that either of these measures were compulsory, but they certainly reduced my stress level on race morning.

Warm-up:  I ran most of the race course as a warm-up with fellow teammates Dave and Nick.  We got back with about ten minutes to spare, and made sure to get out near the starting line.  While this race utilized chip timing at the start line, I sure wouldn't want to get stuck in the crowd and held back from a fast start.  Lining up near the start, two kids were in front of me.  One of the race organizers came to the starting line, and said something to the effect, "If you're standing on the starting line, you'll be one of the first coming back in, right?".  I was hoping this would persuade the kids to drop back, but they responded with an enthusiastic "Yes".  Let's hope their actual pace matches their level of enthusiasm.

View of the starting line from about six rows back
(from Paul Gray's Strava post)

Looking back at the rest of the field,
runners as far back as the eyes can see lined up
going back to the left
(Ibid.)

Mile 1:  The two young kids went out ahead of me, and somewhat predictably faded just 1/10 mile in as I made my way around and past them.  About the same time, 4 kids (late teens?) went past me, and teammates Nick and Dave were pretty much alongside me.  Up a very small hill (there were no hills bigger than 20' on this course) 1/4 mile in, I turned left onto the next street, edging just ahead of Dave and Nick.  1/2 mile in, with another 90° turn, this time slightly uphill, they both went back ahead of me.  Both of them go out very hard in races relative to me, and in this race, this was a help to me, as I then forced myself to speed up and catch back up to them.  We catch flack for having too many turns in the Bottone road mile (we have reduced from 8 turns in the Fun Run 1 Mile down to 5 and most recently down to 4), but Mile 1 of this race unfortunately features six 90° turns.  Despite this, I ran a fast mile of 5:32.

Lined up and ready to go
Wet roads, but very little wind, and only a mist
(Note the toll-style scanners on scaffolding above us)
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Pics by Jana, unless otherwise noted

The two kids leading it out.
You can see me in blue cap and WTAC singlet,
and Nick just behind me, with Dave to his left.
---
At three o'clock in pic,
juxtaposed against the shed background,
the tall guy in blue singlet (eventual race winner) and
two runners to his right in light green singlets were legit;
the two kids out front were not.

I'm feeling a little bit boxed in for the first 1/10 mile.

Mile 2:  In this mile, the footsteps become more faint and we start to get more separation.  While there are no longer any sharp turns (except a cone turnaround near end of mile), I'm also no longer getting the advantage of being pushed, and Mile 2 is almost always my slowest mile in a 5K.  I end up passing two of the kids before the turnaround, make a wide turn and get back at it, heading back into the mass of runners.  I see Nick out of the corner of my eye, but then focus on the road ahead of me.  Mile 2 split 5:45.

Mile 3:  At the start of this final mile, 7/8 of the mile is taken up by the horde of runners coming towards me, but I still have enough room comfortably on the far right side.  I catch and pass one more kid here, leaving only one ahead of me.  I hear my name occasionally, as well as comments like "you're just 100 yards behind him."  I appreciate both, and normally I would give these people a thumbs-up, but I'm super focused on my race and I just look straight ahead with no response.  I occasionally see the kid ahead of me, and while I feel like the separation is not increasing over me, it's also not shrinking.  The last half mile goes by quickly, I push as I hard as I can, but do not catch the kid.  Mile 3 split 5:49.

Finishing strides

Finish line!
From race video.

Final result:  17:32!!  2nd overall of 697 finishers, 1st in age group.  Full results here.

Crushed my goals.  I hadn't done the math on my splits, and was shocked (pleasantly!) to see the clock ticking "17:2x" as I approached it.  After catching my breath and catching up with others, I checked the real-time results, saw my time as 17:32, and immediately looked up what my 5K PR was for confirmation.  Tied my PR!  Wow.  I had last run this time in November 2014 at the Avondale "Setting the Pace for Conservation" 5K.

Team WTAC at finish

After the team pic at McCook Beach, I regrouped with Dave and Nick for a cool-down, and Brady came along as well!  Our first stop was the friendly neighborhood house on the course with canopies setup, Christmas music playing, and they were giving out three different shots:  Sambuca, Bailey's, and Jameson!  Taking Dave's lead with Sambuca, I had the Bailey's, and we were on our way.  Made a nice loop on the course, staying out of runners' way, and got our usual comments of "Are you guys out for your 3rd time?" (yes, pretty much!).  As we made our way back to the finish area, we noticed the wind was just now starting to pick up.  We really lucked out in that regard, as I had envisioned forecasted strong gusts slowing me down on the course, and it didn't materialize in time.

Brady got to come for the cool-down, at least.

What went well:

• Bib pick-up the night before.  One of the most efficient I've ever seen.  Drive up, give your name, proceed ahead to a turn-around, pull back up on the right, and they hand your bib and jingle bells.
• Parking race morning was also very efficient, with many marshals on hand to direct you.
• Very well organized race.  Race off went promptly at 10am, and awards promptly at 11am, just as announced. 
• Having my teammates push hard helped push me faster than I would have left to my own devices, at least for the first mile and a half or so.
• WTAC cleaning up at awards!  (See below)
• Crowd support.  For a local 5K run mostly in neighborhoods, there were surprisingly quite a few cheering spectators.
• Festive holiday atmosphere.  From Christmas music to jingle bells handed out to festively attired runners and walkers, this was fun.
• My shoes!  This was my second race in my NB Fuel Cell Rebel 2, and they're comfortable, springy, and lightweight (7.2 oz).  I think this will be my go-to race shoe for a while.  Translation:  until NB discontinues.  (No, I don't say that about every shoe I try.  While my previous NB Fuel Cell shoe, the Speedrift, got me through very successful races at Vermont City Half and Philadelphia, I don't like them and find them to be stiff, unresponsive, and a little bit bulky at 9.2 oz.).

Interesting costumes on this guy and the one in front of him!

And our own grinch,
Way Hedding!

What could have gone better:

• $35 pre-reg is a little steep for a 5K.  Yes, the proceeds go to a good cause (in this case, suicide awareness and prevention, and grief counseling), but at least two WTAC runners said they wouldn't run it specifically because of the price.
• Following above, you didn't get much in return for the entry fee.  No shirt (not that I need another shirt) and pretty limited food selection for a $35 5K.
• Confusion over team entries.  To me, featuring team entries implied there were would be team awards for fastest teams.  There wasn't, and instead it seemed to refer to recognizing those teams that made the most donations.
• Awards ceremony announcing.  It was so weird during awards ceremony that instead of calling out finishing times (e.g., In 1st place in the age 40s age group is Joe Schmo in a time of xx:xx) the announcer called out the bib numbers of everyone receiving awards.  Huh?  Not very helpful or informative.  Yes, that one is a gnat, but could have been better, that's all.
• Cone turnaround.  With the caveat that this is a compact neighborhood with probably not a lot of choices to get in a 5K course without multiple loops, I don't like cone turnarounds (yes, I know we have one in Clamdigger 5K and even one in Philadelphia and other marathons) and I'm not very good at them.  I ended up running very wide and onto the adjacent lawn just to avoid slowing down too much.  Probably cost me a couple seconds and prevented notching an outright PR.

WTAC Age Group Winners!
(from left:  Dave [20s], Kevin [60s], Jeff [50s], Nick [40s])

Top:  age group award
Bottom:  finisher medal